SOCS 627Science and the Moving Image

Jennifer Tucker

Course Description

We are becoming people of the screen. The fluid and
fleeting symbols on a screen pull us away from the classical notions of
monumental authors and authority. On the screen, the subjective again trumps
the objective. We are now in the middle of a second Gutenberg shift - from
book fluency to screen fluency, from literacy to visuality.
-From the New York Times (Nov. 21, 2008).

The significance of moving images for the production of
knowledge has become a source for wide-ranging discussions by cultural
critics, scientists, artists, filmmakers, and historians. This one-week
course will explore several issues and topics arising from the contemporary
emergence of scientific moving images as knowledge in the world today. What
messages about science and scientific knowledge are communicated by film?
How do scientific films define science for different audiences? Why are
scientific films important for a broader understanding of science, public
history, and knowledge?

To examine the status of moving images as knowledge,
this class will look at five different uber-genres
of moving scientific pictures: (a) films used within scientific practice as
experimental laboratory and field data, (b) science documentaries, (c)
contemporary independent media/animation, (d) Hollywood and science fiction
films that represent science and scientists for mass audiences, and (e)
wildlife/nature films. Each day we will look at and discuss films in each
of these categories and explore a variety of different topics in the history
of film, science, art and history. Participants will write short papers in
class at the end of each discussion and submit a 10-12 written paper on a
topic of their choice at the end of the class session. . No background in
film or science is expected or assumed.

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